Auction at Sabine on Fifth

We have some clients who were considering purchasing a unit at Kennedy Wilson Auction of Sabine on Fifth, so we did some further research. Here are our notes from speaking with a rep at Kennedy Wilson and reading the literature:

*Sabine on Fifth is located at 507 Sabine Street, Austin, TX 78701
*There are 44 units left, 27 of which will be auctioned on Sunday Feb 28th at 1 pm at the Hilton Austin Downtown, 500 East 4th Street. Bidders are advised to arrive no later than noon. The auction is expected to take approximately 1 hour.
*On Sunday, Feburary 21st at 2pm, there is a free seminar reviewing the procedures, registration, strategies, and terms and conditions.
*All bidders must register by 5pm Feburary 25th.
*After registering, you’ll receive a CD of the HOA documents including the financials.
*HOA fees may not include cost for parking. Kennedy Wilson will be able to provide the cost of parking spaces.
*You may view all the units for auction daily from 10 am to 5 pm (including weekends). When I arrived to view, there was valet parking. I was escorted to the sales office in unit 605 where they took my information, gave me a brochure with a map, and in exchange for my driver’s licenses lent me a fob for operation of the elevators. Each unit was clearly marked with the auction number.
*The winning bid will have 4% added to it to establish the purchase price. For instance, if you won with a bid of $135K, then the actual price you would be purchasing the condo at is $140,400. This 4% pays for the seller’s expenses and the cost of the auction.
*There are unpublished reserves (minimum selling price) therefore even if you win the highest bid, the seller may still reject or counter your offer within 5 days following the auction.
*If you use the seller’s approved lender (whom they require you to at least get pre-qualified through), Bank of America or Colonial National Mortgage, and close within 45 days of the auction, you will be credited $3,000 towards non-recurring closing costs.
*If you have the winning bid, you will be immediately requested to sign a Bid Confirmation Sheet and execute the purchase documents. You must also provide a cashier’s check of $2,500 (per condo) plus a personal check to bring the total to 3%-5% of the purchase price depending on the number of condos your are buying. Therefore before the auctioning begins you’ll be required to show that you have the cashier’s check(s) with you.

Sabine on Fifth had some issues. On December 16th, 2009, the Statemen reported “CWS Capital Partners, the developer of Sabine at Fifth, said it had defaulted on the $6.4 million balance on a $16.4 million construction loan for the project but is also nearing completion of an agreement to extend the loan from Compass Bank and GE Capital.

The project is a 10-story former office building at Sabine and West Fifth streets that CWS converted to condominiums in 2007. However, 44 of the 80 units remain unsold, and in March, some residents sued over complaints, including faulty and unsafe elevators and leaks.

Greg Miller, CWS’ vice president for investments, said Tuesday that the loan extension will allow the company to auction the remaining units, probably in February, once a number of improvements have been made, including painting and elevator repairs.

In an agreement with residents, the building will be turned over to the newly formed homeowners association, which “will go a long way to making people feel comfortable” buying into a building owned by its residents, not the developer, Miller said.

Scott Dixon Smith, a resident who had been part of the lawsuit, said the agreement with CWS “resolves our differences and then some.””